POLICE didn't need to look far to find their man after a bungled robbery on an estate agents, a judge was told.

As John Denby struggled to break free from staff trying to hold him, he dropped a letter containing his name and address on the floor of Andrew Kelly estate agents in Market Place.

Police quickly arrested him at his home in Bamford Road, about 200 yards from the scene of the crime.

Denby, 30, was jailed for five years for robbery and possessing an imitation firearm after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

The court was told he used a piece of bent tubing inside a plastic bag to terrorise staff into believing he had a handgun.

Judge Anthony Rumbelow praised staff at the estate agents for their 'considerable bravery' as they grappled with the robber on September 20 last year.

Denby dropped the £3,000 he had forced a cashier to hand over and also dropped the bag containing the imitation gun. But he escaped after producing a knife and threatening staff with that.

Judge Rumbelow told him: "The maximum sentence for these offences is life imprisonment.

"Staff in small offices who are handling cash sums are very vulnerable and the court must protect them.

"The fear you caused was very real, but no-one was injured and you tendered an early guilty plea.

"Between them, the staff acted with considerable bravery to force you to drop the money."

Bolton Crown Court, sitting at Bury Magistrates' Court, had earlier heard how Denby handed a note to a cashier warning her: "Don't press any buttons. It's not worth being a hero. I know where you live. Money is insured, you are not."

But barrister Max Saffman, defending, said they were 'criminal acts of a desperate man' who was trying to raise money to pay off drugs debts.

He said: "This is an extremely serious matter, but it almost has a comic value to it because he didn't even empty his pockets of personal belongings.

"There had been threats from some very undesirable people against Mr Denby and members of his family because of money he owed.

"In his desperation he hatched this amateurish plan, intending to walk out with a considerable sum of money.

"In custody he has avoided drugs and worked well with drugs workers. If any cloud has a silver lining, this is it."

The judge ordered that two five-year sentences imposed for robbery and possessing an imitation firearm should run concurrently and that Denby should serve at least two-and-a-half years before being released on licence.